The debate and potential investiture of the acting Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will take place on 22-23 July, when he will need to have the backing of a majority of MPs in order to officially reclaim the post.
A Spanish congress debate will be held on Monday 22 July, and the first vote on the investiture will take place the following day that will either confirm or reject the PSOE socialist as the head of the Spanish government.
Sánchez has been in power since June 2018, and his party performed well in the recent Spanish general election held in April but failed to win a majority alone. Congress speaker Meritxell Batet made the investiture announcement on Tuesday.
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Currently, the Socialists do not have enough backing of other parties to be allowed to form a government, and will have until 22-23 July to reach deals with the likes of left-wing Podemos, and the Catalan and Basque parties.
On the first vote, 23 July, an absolute majority will be needed to win. However, a second vote will take place on 25 July, where a simple majority will suffice – simply, more yes votes than no, meaning abstention votes, in this case, would facilitate the investiture.
In the event of a failure on the part of the Socialists to win sufficient support of other parties and form a government, a hypothetical second congress investiture debate and vote will take place in September.
If there is still no government formed by this vote, there will be new general elections in Spain on 10 November.